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D03209806S 


MESSAGE  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 


Confederate  States  of  America,  j 

Executive  Department,  / 

September  6,  1862.      ) 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  : 

I  herewith  transmit  a  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  enclosing 
a  communication  from  the  Quartermaster  General,  in  response  to  a 
resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  requesting  information 
relative  to  the  payment  of  troops.  The  organization  of  the  Army  of 
the  Confederate  States  gives  a  Paymaster  to  each  Regiment,  by  de- 
volving the  payment  of  troops  on  Regimental  Quartermasters,  a  sys- 
tem by  which  we  avoid  at  the  same  time  all  danger,  from  delay  in  pay- 
ment, by  the  absence  of  the  proper  officer,  as  well  as  the  hazard  of 
transporting  large  sums  of  money  from  camp  to  camp,  as  would  be 
the  case  if  a  corps  of  officers  were  employed  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
paying  the  troops.  The  failures  to  pay  regularly,  as  required  by  re- 
gulations, should  disappear  with  the  prompt  and  regular  supply  of 
funds  to  the  Quartermasters  of  the  different  Regiments.  The  ability 
of  the  Government  to  do  this  it  is  hoped  will  increase  with  the  further 
development  of  the  means  of  the  Treasury  Department. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


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C.  IS.  A.  War  DeI-artaiknt,  > 

Richmond,  September  o,  1862.  ) 

His  Excellency,  Jeffkkson  Davis, 

President  C.  S.  A.  : 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  a  letter  from  the  Quartermaster 
General  in  response  to  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
relative  to  the  payment  of  troops. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

GEO.  W.  RANDOLPH, 

Secretary  of  Wetr. 


Quartermaster  General's  Office,  ) 
September  3,  1862.      \ 

Hon.  Geo.  W.  Randolph, 

Secretary  of  War  : 

Sir  :  In  reply  to  the  communication  of  the  President,  to  the  War 
Department,  accompanying  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, relative  to  the  payment  of  troops,  referred  to  this  oflfilce  for  con- 
sideration and  report,  I  have  the  honor  to  explain :  that  the  Army 
regulations  do  not  require  the  troops  to  be  paid  monthly. 

Par.  1,056  is  in  these  words:  "The  troops  will  be  paid  in  such  man- 
ner that  the  arrears  shall,  at  no  time,  exceed  two  months,  unless  the 
circumstances  of  the  case  render  it  unavoidable,"  etc. 

Circumstances  have  arisen,  in  numerous  instances,  to  cause  four 
months,  and  occasionally,  six  or  eight  months  to  elapse  between  the 
dates  of  psyment.  This  failure  to  pay  is  attributable  not  to  the  fact 
that  Quartermasters  do  not  promptly  forward  their  estimates  for  the 
funds  requisite ;  but  to  the  difficulty  in  obtaining  money  from 
the  Treasury,  after  requisitions  have  been  sent  in,  owing  to 
causes  which,  no  doubt,  will  be  fully  explained  by  the  Honorable  Se- 
cretary of  the  Treasury.  It  not  unfrequently  happens  though,  that, 
owing  to  interruption  of  mail  communication  between  the  Seat  of 
Government  and  the  points  at  which  the  Quartermasters  are  stationed, 
the  estimates  fail  to  reach  the  Department  in  season  to  be  acted  on, 
BO  that  payment  to  the  troops  may  not  be  deferred. 

Again,  a  particular  body  of  troops,  after  having  been  estimated  for 
in  one  military  department,  may  be  removed  to  a  different  and  distant 
point,  before  the  Quartermaster's  estimate  has  been  acted  on,  or  re- 
sponded to.  The  Quartermaster,  whose  duty  it  may  be  to  procure 
funds  to  disburse  to  the  command  to  which  they  are  removed,  will  not 
have  embraced  them  in  his  estimate,  and  payment  to  them  will,  of 
course,  be  delayed. 

The  practice  prevailed  with  the  U.  S.  Government  to  pay  troops  at 
the  end  of  every  two  months  ;  never  for  a  less  period  were  companies 
mustered  for  pay. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  C.  MYERS, 

Quartermaster  General. 


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